Regarding Kegan Zema’s thoughtful Sep. 24 op-ed; If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco.  Like any drug, marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association.  Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best.  White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably as a deterrent.  The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults over the age of 18.

- Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy

A visitor in the Ornamental Gardens off Rangeley Road reported seeing what he believed to be three people smoking marijuana in a tree at 6:21 p.m. on Sept. 19. An officer responded and found people in said tree. One tree squatter, Theodore McDonald, 19, Damariscotta, was on bail for a prior arrest. Part of his bail conditions was not to possess or consume illegal drugs. In his pocket, police found a bag that contained a small amount of marijuana. He was arrested and transported to Penobscot County Jail where he was charged with violation of condition of release. The other two people vacated the tree.

Each crime smells different

An officer responded to the second floor of Cumberland Hall in response to a report of the odor of marijuana, but could not smell the odor when he located the room at 1:01 a.m. on Sept. 20. The officer detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from the room. Conary Ryan, 19, Orono, admitted to drinking but refused to allow the officer into the room to search for contraband. Ryan was issued a summons for possession of alcohol by a minor by consumption.

Bike thefts continue

A blue Raleigh 10-speed bike was stolen from the Memorial Union bike rack sometime between 6 and 7 p.m. on Sept. 21. The bike was unlocked. Estimated value is $250.

A student having dinner in York Commons from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 21 returned to find his unlocked bike had been stolen from outside the dining hall. The yellow and red 21-speed’s estimated value is $75.

A red Cannondale 75XL mountain bike was stolen from the Somerset Hall bike rack sometime between 12 p.m. on Sept. 18 and 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 21. The bike was unlocked. Estimated value is $750.

A Raleigh MC50 24-speed mountain bike was stolen from the Patch Hall bike rack where it was locked sometime between 7 a.m. on Sept. 19 and 1:10 a.m. on Sept. 21. Estimated value of the red, white and blue bike is $350.

According to a recent article in the Kennebec Journal, there is no organized opposition to Question 5. Only two state officials have offered a negative stance on the referendum question.

It seems that with issues like gay marriage and TABOR II on the ballot, no one cares about a medical marijuana law. The public’s back is turned because of the economy. Everyone is too worried about paying their bills, being able to retire or even just being able to heat their home this winter. They don’t have time to be bothered with where a glaucoma patient will fill their marijuana prescription.

So with attitudes changing, why stop with legislation affecting medical marijuana users? Let’s go for gusto — I am talking about legalizing marijuana.

The stigma associated with marijuana use has far from faded in our society; yet even pre-occupation could be a step in the right direction. It seems conservative parents are more concerned their son might start experimenting with men rather than experimenting with drugs. This year, during its 40th anniversary, Woodstock was revered as a cultural pinnacle, while forty years ago it was looked down on by adults as a muddy, drug-ridden orgy in the woods.

Even though voters seem to be relaxed about medical marijuana legislation, it is no doubt that people would still be up in arms about the legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Marijuana is still seen as a drug that is abused — not used responsibly. In reality, countless citizens use marijuana maturely every day.

It’s not just high school burnouts and college kids that smoke. Recreational marijuana users are scholars and professors, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, business leaders and presidents. Making these people purchase drugs illegally adds unnecessary danger to one of the most harmless illegal substances.

Legal distribution will create safe environments for patients to purchase marijuana. But why should only the safety of medical users be guaranteed? Forcing recreational marijuana users to buy on the black market puts innocent citizens in harms way — not to mention makes them lawbreakers.

All citizens, regardless of their reason for using the drug, should be able to purchase it safely. Creating a secure method for patients to acquire the drug is a step in the right direction, but this privilege should not be reserved strictly for medical users.

Likening marijuana use to alcohol is an argument countless advocates have made because it makes so much sense. To make one form of mind-numbing social stimulant not only legal but an integral part of culture while another is completely banned is hypocrisy in every sense of the word.

It is unlikely that alcohol and marijuana will ever achieve the same status, but the idea is just so tantalizing. Imagine walking safely into a store full of marijuana  guaranteed to be safe, fairly priced and high quality.

Some like-minded individuals are working to put this dream in motion. According to the state of Maine’s Web site, a citizen initiative petition titled “An Act to Repeal the Prohibition on Cannabis, Hemp and Marijuana” is currently approved for circulation for the 2010 ballot. It is doubtful they will gather enough signatures, but if Maine’s voters remain as preoccupied as they have been, perhaps the outlook isn’t so grim for law-abiding citizens who just happen to get high.

Kegan Zema is style editor for The Maine Campus.

The bill failed in committee April 15, but will go back to the legislature for a final vote. It is not expected to pass.

The bill, L.D. 1070, would direct “the University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture and the University of Maine School of Nursing to collaborate in a project to grow and dispense medical marijuana to authorized individuals and to study pain reduction and other beneficial effects of marijuana.”

The Health and Human Services Committee voted the bill ought not to pass.

Money raised from the sale of the project’s marijuana would have supported its expenses.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Leila Percy, D-Phippsburg, said she was acting on the needs and concerns of her constituency.

“I have constituents who use medical marijuana,” Percy said. “It was [an] accessibility issue for them.”

Percy expressed a need for more information on the topic.

“We kept finding ourselves asking questions like, ‘Is it beneficial?’ and ‘Has enough research been done?’”

According to an e-mail from Marcella Sorg, a nursing professor and forensic and medical anthropologist specializing in policy issues concerning drug abuse epidemiology at UMaine’s Margaret Chase Smith Center, the bill “was, appropriately, already voted not to pass by the Health and Human Services Committee and is essentially dead.”

Sorg said she testified in Augusta on behalf of the university and recommended the committee turn down the bill.

Two days before the committee voted, Sorg told its members UMaine believes the bill is inappropriate and that it would violate federal laws concerning marijuana.

“It is still against federal law to grow, possess or distribute marijuana,” Sorg’s written testimony said. “This L.D. would require the university … to become, in effect, a pharmacy-like dispensary selling an illegal substance. Currently, Maine law … does not permit dispensing of marijuana for medical purposes.” She felt this could “potentially place university employees and federal-university relationships in jeopardy.”

Sorg noted problems with the research side of the bill, saying many studies have already proved marijuana-derived pain medication works, making any research UMaine might conduct redundant, and that the Food and Drug Administration, “which regulates all pharmacologic research, has rejected the use of smoked marijuana for any medicinal purpose.”

Percy said she does not know whether or not the bill will pass when it gets to the Legislature, adding, “you can never make … assumptions in Maine.” She hopes the conversation about medical marijuana research and accessibility continues.

The debate about medical marijuana will continue even if the Maine Legislature rejects L.D. 1070.

Maine residents will vote on a medical marijuana referendum question in November. Medical marijuana advocates have collected the necessary 55,000 signatures to place a question on the November ballot that would ease access to medical marijuana for qualified patients. Charles Wynott, founder of the Maine chapter of Americans for Safe Access, which has been a leader in the medical marijuana petition drive, expressed his disappointment with the failure of L.D. 1070 in committee.

“I’m really displeased that it died [in committee],” Wynott said. “It would’ve gone a long way to help patients in Maine.”

He said he has seen an increasing leniency toward drug policy in the Maine Legislature, but considerable resistance remains.

“Eventually they’ll come to the realization that this is the right thing to do,” Wynott said.

Wynott felt UMaine should play a role in researching medical marijuana.

“The citizens will benefit from it, and that’s what [UMaine] is all about. It’s an agricultural college. Why not use that to our benefit?” Wynott said.